At about 100m in length and costing a quarter of a million pounds, it’s got to be one of the most expensive stretches of road in the Isle of Man.

But the opening of a new road to the Braddan Roundhouse on Friday brought to an end months of bickering between the local authority and central government over access to the facility.

Given the tortured history of the development, it was perhaps fitting that torrential rain and strong winds forced the abandonment of a planned official opening.

Braddan Commissioner chairman Andrew Jessopp said: ‘I was of the opinion last summer that we weren’t going to be building an access road because we hadn’t had an agreement with the department, and we didn’t own the land.

‘And so it was a case of reverting to the original plan to use the hospital road which we’ve always maintained we had a legal right to use.

‘But we are where we are and we concluded a deal with the department, purchased the land and we’ve had to scrape the money together from the sale of our old offices to fund one of the most expensive bits of Tarmac in the Isle of Man, in my opinion.

‘So we now have our own access, and we control that and don’t have to worry about any further disputes as to whether people can or can’t get in through the hospital.’

When work started in June 2021, the Roundhouse project was expected to cost £6.5m but it went £3.4m over-budget, and to pay for it, Braddan ratepayers were hit by the largest increase in rates for any local authority.

The scheme itself was already over-budget and behind schedule when the row over access blew up at the end of last year.

During the planning phase of the project, the local authority submitted a copy of a letter to the planning committee from the then Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) Minister Howard Quayle in August 2016 which apparently granted staff and customers access to the facility via the hospital grounds.

But on December 19 last year, Braddan Commissioners said it was informed of a ‘last-minute decision’ by the DHSC to refuse vehicle access to the facility for safety reasons.

Official opening of new Roundhouse access with Braddan Commissioners chairman Andrew Jessopp (second from right), Commissioner Neal Mellon, Steve Dempsey from Cedar Developments, and Cassi McAllister, centre manager
Official opening of new Roundhouse access with Braddan Commissioners chairman Andrew Jessopp (second from right) with Commissioner Neal Mellon, Steve Dempsey from Cedar Developments, centre manager Cassi McAllister and Commissioners’ clerk Colin Whiteway (Media IoM)

Then in August it was confirmed that the government has signed a deal for £250 to sell land for an access road. But ratepayers still have effectively had to pick up the £250,000 bill for the road to be built.

The road opened on Friday just as work finished.

Asked if there were lessons to be learned, Mr Jessopp replied: ‘Yes - don’t trust government! We were providing something unique for the Isle of Man, but we found a lot of obstructions and difficulties put in our way.

‘If we had built a multi-storey car park, we would financially have done an awful lot better. I think what we have built here now is a fantastic facility and I’m sure in a few years’ time a lot of the problems we’ve had during the construction phase will be forgotten and hopefully as many people as possible will come and enjoy it.’

Will he pay a political price at the next local elections? ‘I’ve no idea,’ he replied. ‘You would have thought after the requisition meeting, we had earlier in the year that there would be at least 150 people seeking nomination papers in a few months’ time. But I think it will be down to a handful of people again. So, we will just wait and see.’